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Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2025-2026

robertearle

robertearle

Well-known member
With the 2024-25 year wrapping up, and graduation happening this weekend (and the PWHL draft deadline past), it's time to look forward (Forever Forward) to the coming season. An Olympic year, but without the roster disruptions that has meant in the past; game scheduling will be "interesting".

With great and heartfelt thanks, we bid farewell to all-everything, award winner, record holder and one of the latest three-time NCAA champions, Casey O'Brien. And to three-time winner Katie Kotlowski, two-time winner Sarah Wozniewicz, and three-time winner (one with UW) Quinn Kuntz.

But they leave behind a very talented and deep roster to try for the ninth NCAA Badger championship; they have to be the favorite to repeat, don't they?

To-be seniors: Caroline Harvey (2x NCAA champ), Lacey Eden (3x), Kirsten Simms (2x), Laila Edwards (2x), Marianne Picard (2x), Vivian Jungels (2x), and McKayla Zilisch (1x).

To-Be juniors: Claire Enright (2x), Chloe Baker (2x), Kelly Gorbatenko (1x), Ava Murphy (1x), Cassie Hall (1x), Laney Potter (1x), and Ava McNaughton (1x)

To-Be sophomores: Finley McCarthy, Hannah Halverson, Maggie Scannell, Emma Venusio, Bella Vasseur, and Grace Bickett (all 1x)

Incoming freshmen: forwards Adela Sapovalivova, Charlotte Pieckenhagen, and Nicole Gorbatenko, defenders Rachel Gorbatenko and Mackenzie Jones, and goalie Ryhah Stewart.

('class designations' in terms of eligibility remaining; too complicated to do it otherwise)

That makes for a full 26 players on the roster: 15 forwards, 8 defenders, and 3 goalies.

(Notable these days, no transfers in, no transfers out after the 2024-25 season ... yet.)

The Badgers lose a really quite low percentage of their scoring: only about 16% of their goals, and 21% of their assists (of course, the great majority of that having come from O'B).

Ticket prices around the rest of the Badger athletic world have been going up again for 2025-26, so that's the thing I'm not looking forward to... :)
 
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Great intro to the season Robert! Of course we all know Eden is back as well now. The big question is who's going to play the other 2 center spots this besides Hall and Picard?
 
Timothy A said:
Great intro to the season Robert! Of course we all know Eden is back as well now. The big question is who's going to play the other 2 center spots this besides Hall and Picard?
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I would think that Maggie Scannell would be the third-line center. Coach moved her up to fill in at wing last year, but "officially" she was the fourth-line center. Are any of the incoming forwards experienced at center?
 
Gargoyle said:
I would think that Maggie Scannell would be the third-line center. Coach moved her up to fill in at wing last year, but "officially" she was the fourth-line center. Are any of the incoming forwards experienced at center?
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The WCHA web site posts the stats for faceoffs for the top 30 in the conference, both win percentage and total number of faceoffs taken.

By percentage, Picard was 2nd in the conference, O'B 3rd, Hall 7th, Scannell 11th. By total taken, O'B #1, Hall #10, Picard #17, and Scannell (a little surprisingly, to me) #27.

So Scannell is certainly a viable option. It seems likely to me that 'overall play' will play as much a role in deciding as much as faceoffs will. But what do I know?
 
I did some digging around on Pieckenhagan yesterday, I was not able to ascertain if she even played C. I did find out she is an elite rower, as are her siblings, and she's wanted to come to UW since she was 11. Her Nickname is Charlie Bear. There were a couple blurbs on a recruiting site that said the best part of her game is her speed. I think she can score the puck as well, she was 39g 22a in 37 games this last season.
 
Bella Vasseur was actually listed as a sophomore this year, so in theory she is a rising junior. She must not have gotten a redshirt for her first year, when she didn't play because of a medical issue. She didn't play very much this year, either. I hope she has a strong summer and is healthy coming into the fall.
 
Looks like MJ brought in about $168000 in bonuses for last year's performance and Koch got $23000 and Crum $18000. MJ's base salary is$ 427000
 
robertearle said:
An Olympic year, but without the roster disruptions that has meant in the past; game scheduling will be "interesting".
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The disruptions won't be the same in terms of absences, but if past results are any indication, the Olympics will still have an impact beyond weeks when a player on an Olympic roster is away. The Games are such a physical and emotional focus, that when players return, it can take some time before they are truly back. This has primarily impacted European players in the past, but there have been North Americans who would return from a Four Nations tournament or a holiday camp injured or worn down.

Wisconsin has safety in numbers, such that if a few of their players are hindered by the Olympics, they have other talent waiting for the opportunity. (I wonder if MJ will use that word more than usual during the coming season; is that even possible?)
 
ARM said:
The disruptions won't be the same in terms of absences, but if past results are any indication, the Olympics will still have an impact beyond weeks when a player on an Olympic roster is away. The Games are such a physical and emotional focus, that when players return, it can take some time before they are truly back. This has primarily impacted European players in the past, but there have been North Americans who would return from a Four Nations tournament or a holiday camp injured or worn down.

Wisconsin has safety in numbers, such that if a few of their players are hindered by the Olympics, they have other talent waiting for the opportunity. (I wonder if MJ will use that word more than usual during the coming season; is that even possible?)
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I hadn't thought of that as a reason for the very 'full' roster, but that makes sense.
 
ARM said:
The disruptions won't be the same in terms of absences, but if past results are any indication, the Olympics will still have an impact beyond weeks when a player on an Olympic roster is away. The Games are such a physical and emotional focus, that when players return, it can take some time before they are truly back. This has primarily impacted European players in the past, but there have been North Americans who would return from a Four Nations tournament or a holiday camp injured or worn down.

Wisconsin has safety in numbers, such that if a few of their players are hindered by the Olympics, they have other talent waiting for the opportunity. (I wonder if MJ will use that word more than usual during the coming season; is that even possible?)
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That is probably his favorite word.

I'm hoping the WCHA serves the cupcakes during the Olympic period. If they were smart, they'd have who they think will be the 5th/6th best team in the league play the big 3 during that period. The 5th place team might get enough upset wins to get that final at large bid.
 
So UW has not won an NCAA title in an even year since their first in 2006. Obviously the Olympics had been a bit of a factor since every 4 years they were a bit hamstrung by the loss of players/coaches and stupid Covid in 2020, a year they were destine to win. Let's break that even number streak and go back to back, which they also have never done.
 
Timothy A said:
So UW has not won an NCAA title in an even year since their first in 2006. Obviously the Olympics had been a bit of a factor since every 4 years they were a bit hamstrung by the loss of players/coaches and stupid Covid in 2020, a year they were destine to win. Let's break that even number streak and go back to back, which they also have never done.
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Back-to-back in 2006, 2007. Before the even/odd year streak thing started.
 
At an event last night, I confirmed with Jackie that we have an incoming center. She didn't designate which player, but she and Dan assured me that they had it covered. In his remarks, Coach Johnson said that any money raised for women's hockey will go toward the players' education. (With 20 scholarships and 26 on the roster, there's a gap to fill.) He said that he doesn't intend to pay players to play but he does hope to pay for their educations. He said he thinks this will be a successful strategy at least for the next 3-4 years. His predictions didn't go beyond that time frame. I also learned that Marianne Picard came back to work on her Master's in biomedical engineering. (She has decided to become a biomedical engineer instead of going to medical school.)
 
Gargoyle said:
At an event last night, I confirmed with Jackie that we have an incoming center. She didn't designate which player, but she and Dan assured me that they had it covered. In his remarks, Coach Johnson said that any money raised for women's hockey will go toward the players' education. (With 20 scholarships and 26 on the roster, there's a gap to fill.) He said that he doesn't intend to pay players to play but he does hope to pay for their educations. He said he thinks this will be a successful strategy at least for the next 3-4 years. His predictions didn't go beyond that time frame. I also learned that Marianne Picard came back to work on her Master's in biomedical engineering. (She has decided to become a biomedical engineer instead of going to medical school.)
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I received (multiple) emails about that 'event', but it's just not my kind of thing. Given how many emails I did get, I was wondering how many people were there?
 
robertearle said:
I received (multiple) emails about that 'event', but it's just not my kind of thing. Given how many emails I did get, I was wondering how many people were there?
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It was well beyond our comfort zone in price, but we decided what the heck, we're not getting any younger and we didn't take a vacation this year due to my husband's wonky hip. So, we went. The lower level of Buck & Honey's was pretty much packed but it wasn't an overly large space. Maybe 100? I wish I had taken notes during the lengthy (one hour!) and very interesting Q & A session with Coach J. He was actually quite forthcoming (and yes, the word "opportunity" would have made for a good drinking game).
 
robertearle said:
Back-to-back in 2006, 2007.
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Over the winter I spent some time cleaning out old vhs tapes. I found a documentary on the womens team that I recorded. After the 2006 win, they were followed through the summer and also the next season in their quest to repeat. I had it converted to DVD. Not sure if this could be uploaded to YouTube. I wouldn't have the 1st clue how to do that if it could be. It has commercials on it that would probably have to be removed. If any of you Tech people could do that and I could get it to you, that would be great so others could enjoy it.
 
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